GenZ and viral papal slap: teaching ideas

It’s been ages since last time I blogged. One of my new year’s resolutions is to be more ‘social’ and share my teaching ideas, so here I am! Back to tell you about my class experiences. 

At the moment I’m working with teenagers (mainly) at ‘Liceo’ in South Italy and I find it really interesting and exciting teaching Generation Z. If you are wondering about who Generation Z members are like, well, let me give you a quick description about two of their main features. 

GenZ - Open-minded people with a witty sense of humour

According to Seemiller & Grace (2019) more than 70% of today’s teenagers have described themselves ‘as loyal, thoughtful, determined, compassionate, open-minded and responsible’. The word that most caught my attention was open-minded and Seemiller & Grace go on saying that ‘their open-mindedness may help them look at situations and issues from multiple perspectives and in unconventional ways’.  Moreover, ‘growing up alongside YouTube, the hub of entertaining videos, it makes sense that those in Generation Z would seek out and use humour as a way to balance the more serious concerns they have in life’. The other day I was able to confirm all the above-mentioned characteristics through a lesson about an incident that happened on New Year’s Eve and whose video went viral. 

What I planned, what actually… happened in class…

https://www.neatoshop.com/product/pope-slap 

My lesson plan was all about the Pope and what happened with the pilgrim who grabbed his arm in St Peter's Square on New Year's Eve. I wanted the learners to watch this video and then do a series of activities (I am going to share with you). However, when I arrived in class I realised that Internet was not working. ‘No panic’, I said to myself, ’Let’s show off my entertaining storytelling abilities’. I started by saying that I was going to tell them the story of a famous man and an unknown woman. Then I asked them who they thought the man was and they yelled, ‘Trump’. (See? They are into the news). But I said no and I added that he was neither British or Northern American. Here we go, a storm of nationalities came up. (Really good exercise to revise pronunciation of countries and nationalities). When they realised he was from Argentina, one of the boys immediately said, ‘Messi’. Once again I put on my ‘sorry face’ and I said they had to try again. That was when they asked for more hints. So, I added he often wears white and they exclaimed, ‘Oh, yes! It’s Pope Francis’ and they bursted into laughter. They went on telling the story themselves and asked for some new vocabulary such as ‘grab’, ‘pull’, ‘slap’ and ‘yank’. I felt so proud of them!

Ideas to take away and use in your classrooms!

1. WARM-UP ACTIVITY 

2. What did the pilgrim tell the Pope? What did he reply? In pairs, Ls act out a dialogue between the two characters. (Remember to give Ls preparation time and ask them to vote the best performance according some criteria, e.g. the funniest dialogue, the most grammatically correct dialogue, etc.)

Make it different - Get Ls to create comic strips. You can use the picture below. (If you use a WhatsApp group with your class, they can use their smartphones to carry out the task.)

2. FOCUS ON LANGUAGE: Functional language - How to apologise

Elicit the meaning of apologising (e.g. If I say, ‘I am sorry’, I am apologising).

Elicit forms from Ls and board them. Take a look at this webpage for more ideas. Suggest also forms to respond to apologies (visit this page).

In pairs Ls act out a dialogue in which the Pope apologises and the pilgrim accepts (or maybe not) his apology. 

Here you are one of the performances. (Spoiler alert: the learners in this video felt embarrassed.)

3. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY

There is an eyewitness of the incident, who is he? The bodyguard! 

In pairs, once again, one student is a journalist and the other one is the bodyguard. The journalist interviews the bodyguard about what happened. I asked Ls to write and act out a five-question interview. 

Make it different - What would the bodyguard tweet? Use this fake tweet generator to make your Ls carry out the task.

‘That’s all folks’ from me for now.

Have a great teaching year!